From left: “Dirty Money” director Kim Min-soo, Park Byung-eun, Kim Dae-myung and Jung Woo speak during a press conference at the CGV Yongsan in Seoul on Thursday. (Kim Da-sol/The Korea Herald)
Kim Min-soo, one of the writers behind crime noir films “The Merciless” (2017) and “Kingmaker” (2022), will release his debut crime flick “Dirty Money” on Oct. 17.
“Dirty Money” revolves around detectives Myung-deuk (Jung Woo) and Dong-hyuk (Kim Dae-myung), who become involved with tainted money and make the choice to run away with it, dreaming of committing a perfect crime. Seung-chan (Park Byung-eun), a cynical team leader of an investigative squad, notices something going wrong with the suspicious duo.
The debut film from Kim has been invited to various overseas film festivals, such as the 57th Sitges Film Festival in Spain and the 44th Hawaii International Film Festival.
He said he tried to differentiate “Dirty Money” from other crime noir films by grounding the detectives in irony.
“I focused on delivering the joys of irony to the audience by showing detectives, who are investigating the case, also committing the crime and running away as they’re chased by the gang,” Kim told reporters at a press conference at CGV Yongsan in Seoul on Thursday.
Jung Woo (left) and Kim Dae-myung star in “Dirty Money.” (Acemaker Movieworks)
Park Byung-eun stars in “Dirty Money.” (Acemaker Movieworks)
The actors said they were strongly attracted by the movie’s title when they were handed the script. The Korean title of the movie directly translates to “Don’t touch the dirty money.”
“(The title) is very strong and made me imagine what the plotline will be about,” Jung told reporters.
“After getting immersed into it, it became very clear to me that the title perfectly matches the story,” Park said.
While Jung Woo and Park Byung-eun have played detective roles in previous projects several times, both stressed that the characters they played in “Dirty Money” were unprecedented.
“The detective role I took in my 20s was down-to-earth, something relatable to detectives we see in our lives. But Myung-deuk is a character that is totally made up -- only available in films. I was fascinated by this cinematic concept of the character and the episodes surrounding him,” said Jung.
Park, who previously played a detective in action-comedy “Citizen of a Kind” and Netflix series “The Bequeathed,” both of which were released earlier this year, said the detective he plays this time was completely new.
“For me, Seung-chan is a character with an image somewhere between a Doberman dog and a hyena. I normally think of an object or an animal before shooting, and this one was made to have an image of a strict, wild person,” Park told reporters.
Kim Dae-myung, known for his soft role in hit TV series “Hospital Playlist” (2020), said he would want to especially appreciate the director.
“While the movie finished shooting in 2019, it just feels like we were filming until recently. I want to thank the director for continuously working on the editing in postproduction -- even just last week,” said Kim. "He is a passionate director."
“Dirty Money” has been invited to the 29th Busan International Film Festival, which kicks off on Wednesday. The movie hits local theaters on Oct. 17.
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